Internal battles within Perry camp over ‘war on religion’ ad

The backlash to his incendiary “war on religion” ad is still stinging Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. Now, reports say there was not unanimous support for the controversial ad internally within the Texas governor’s team, fracturing his campaign as staffers take sides.

HuffPost’s Sam Stein reports that a leading staffer within Perry’s camp dissented from the campaign’s strategy on the ad, disagreeing with the script. As Stein writes, Perry pollster Tony Fabrizio sent an email to the ad’s creator, Nelson Warfield, weeks prior to video hitting the airwaves in Iowa, calling the ad “nuts.” The ad condemned the decision to allow gays to serve openly in the military and accused President Obama of waging war on people of faith and banning Christmas in public schools.

“Tony was against it from the get-go,” Warfield wrote in an email to HuffPost. “It was the source of some extended conversation in the campaign. To be very clear: That spot was mine from writing the poll question to test[ing] it to drafting the script to overseeing production.”

The ad has been condemned by gay rights groups and organizations that advocate the separation of church and state. It has been parodied by political commentators and YouTube users alike.

Considering the amount of free publicity Perry is receiving over the controversy (with over 2 million viewers in the last three days), the Texas governor is certainly getting his name out to the electorate. But with the tally of total YouTube “dislikes” for the ad surpassing 400,000, it might not be the type of free publicity Perry’s campaign is looking for.

The following commercial interruption is brought to you by Rick Perry’s “War On Religion.” You’re welcome.